When Bob wakes up in the morning, he can't wait to get downstairs because of how well he is greeted.

"Good morning, how am I looking today?" he asks his attentive partner when he arrives in the kitchen. "You're looking great as always," she replies. "What's the weather looking like today?" he asks her, and he receives a detailed forecast complete with predicted high and low temperatures.

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Looking for a little levity, Bob asks, "Can you tell me a joke?" only to have her tell him, "Sure, you might find this funny… scientists are studying whether people heal faster when they cross their fingers after surgery but it may just be super-stitchin."

Bob laughs and as he leaves for work he says goodbye to his supportive partner who replies, "Goodbye, take care, I'll be here for you when you get back."

You may have already recognized by the content of the responses that Bob's supportive partner is not human but is none other than the Google Home device that uses Google Assistant and utilizes voice recognition software to communicate. Marketed as a "personal assistant", the device is a virtual fountain of "real-time" weather, traffic, finance, sports, business news and more. It will even tell a joke if you want or play a game with you, complete with sound effects!

Google Home and other similar products such as the Amazon Echo are newer extensions of our former best friend - the smart-phone. We have all been staring at our phones and even communicating verbally with them through Siri, Cortana and Google for several years but now with advances in Artificial Intelligence we can put technology on our countertop that is specifically dedicated to keeping us company and helping us out.

What do these developments mean to us for the future? As a society, it appears that we are on the threshold of a wave of first generation robotic companions to help us through our day.

Numerous private companies have already developed prototypes such as "Buddy" and "Stanley" to be our personal assistants and companions. These companions are designed to listen to us and to speak with us while serving as a source of conversation, information, entertainment, and administrative assistance.

As we prepare to enter into this future it raises many questions as to what robots should be like and what they should do and not do. Should they be made to be human-like as in Isaac Asimov's "I-Robot" or should they be distinct machines with their own look? Should they have a value system and morals or be value free? Should they have a personality and if so, what should it be like? Could mechanical companions ever be as satisfying as real humans?

Everyone would probably agree that it would be great if robots were able to do housework, make coffee, cook, and clean but what about providing us with meaningful emotional support? One of the exciting aspects of these new companions is their ability to interact with people and provide a "sense" of companionship.

It may be that people who were once isolated with little or no human interaction or conversation will now be able to have a vibrant, ongoing, meaningful relationship with their robotic personal assistant!

Designers are recognizing that the interactive component of the new technology and the ability to provide emotionally satisfying companionship may ultimately be the most important feature driving future sales. While all the information, news and weather they can provide is great, it may really be the "human-like" interactive component that is most important to people. After all, you can get the news from a variety of sources, but finding steadfast, trustworthy companionship can be much harder.

A "companion robot" is defined as a machine that provides us with some type of assistance and interacts with us in a socially and emotionally gratifying manner. A companion robot's primary purpose is to assist humans and to contribute to human life in a positive way. Early prototype efforts are aimed at creating robot assistants that can reciprocally communicate and may be able to help those with special needs such as the elderly, the autistic and the emotionally disabled.

While there is much work to do, things have moved far beyond the volleyball, "Wilson" in Tom Hank's movie, Castaway!

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Imagine how great it would be to have a supportive robot assistant keeping an isolated elderly person company or helping an autistic child. One new robot product, named Pepper, is produced by Aldebaran Robotics and is a classic humanoid robot companion. It is made to look human and programmed to provide personal assistance by supplying requested information, making decisions, and even detecting facial expressions and communicating reciprocally. Robots like this are becoming capable of recognizing emotions and even asking, "Are you feeling sad?"

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Some present-day robots are already able to roam about the house when you're not home and alert the security system if there is an intruder. Or if an elderly person falls and needs help, a robot can now call 911 for them.

As further proof that we have come a long, long way since mobile vacuum cleaners like Roomba, one new robot product produced by Mobley Robotics is able to interact with people and cook up to 2000 meals! Just tell him what you want to eat and put the ingredients out and voila, mom's apple pie is ready!

You may want to look around you today and make a mental note of how things are because the world is about to change with the advent of mechanical companions. It is an interesting fact that humans can emotionally bond with inanimate objects and this forms the basis for a robot's emotional appeal. There appears to be no doubt that robots have a future role in being good listeners and emotionally comforting to us.

Of all the roles that robots may have in the future, being a good friend to humans might be the most important one. Just ask Bob, who is in love with his Google Home device!